1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the medical and cleaning product fields. In particular, the present invention provides a disposable article, such as a mop head or a rag, which may be disposed of after use and methods for the use and disposal of the articles.
2. Background
Hospital patient care generates considerable quantities of infectious medical waste in primary and acute care facilities. There has been a general conversion from reusable, cleanable items, to disposable items over the last three decades. These conversions were made to promote antiseptic techniques in patient care and to decrease the potential for cross-infections between patients, staff and the general public. Recent federal and state government regulations such as the Medical Waste Tracking Act of 1988 and OSHA Medical Facility rules have resulted in a substantial increase in medical waste that must be classifed as "infectious."
When a patient is admitted to a hospital, the patient produces approximately 55 pounds of medical waste per day. Approximately 20% of this waste is infectious. The current stated objective of the American Hospital Association and the Centers for Disease Control is to treat medical waste as soon as it is generated. Both organizations recognize that medical waste is primarily an occupational hazard for health care workers and not an environmental problem. The best way to handle infectious medical waste is to disinfect it at the point of generation and dispose of the treated medical waste with minimum on premises handling and storage. The need for an effective way to dispose of medical waste has been highlighted by the amendment made to 29 C.F.R. 1910.1030 which provides for the federal regulation under the Occupational Safety And Health Act, 29 U.S.C. 655, 657 to control bloodborne pathogens. Specifically, the Act calls for the establishment of an exposure control plan, the containment of specimens of blood or other potentially infectious materials and the general tightening of precautionary measures to minimize the spread of disease. A safe and effective way to dispose of hospital waste would greatly facilitate compliance with the above-referenced Act.
As a result, consumption of medical disposable woven or non-woven products has been growing at a rate of approximately 10% a year. In 1988, sales totaled approximately 1.155 Billion Dollars. It is projected that as of the end of 1996, sales of medical disposable non-woven products will have exceeded two and a half billion dollars. In the United States, there are at least 30 million surgical procedures performed each year. After each surgical procedure, it is necessary that the operating theater be disinfected before a new procedure is performed to minimize any exposure the patients may bring to other patients or staff. This is particularly important in light of today's increasingly stringent regulations regarding occupational exposure to blood and bodily fluids.
One of the most basic operations that is performed in the surgical theater as well as in the clinical environment, generally, is the mopping of floors. Fundamentally, cleaning a floor is perhaps one of the most hazardous duties in the hospital because likely infectious material will reside in the floor in the form of spills, splashes, drips or general runoff of potentially hazardous fluids such as blood, bodily liquids and irrigation products which are presently involved in virtually all operating procedures. Currently, floors are cleaned by employing conventional tools such as mops. It is a common practice in today's surgical venues or hospitals' surgical centers that conventional mops are used once and either disposed of via landfill or incineration or are washed, dried, sterilized and reused. It is practically impossible to clean a used mop head to remove all of the pathogens, infectious materials, needles, and other sharp objects that are caught in the interstices of the yarn constituting the mop itself. Cleaning the mop leads to considerable opportunity for additional hazardous exposure to people that are employed to clean the mops after they are used. Furthermore, conventional mops, when disposed of either through landfill or incineration, provide ample opportunity for reinfection.
In addition, the use of hand-held cleaning articles, such as rags presents a similar, if not heightened danger to the person using the rag.
Thus, there exists a need for a suitable cleaning article, such as a mop head or a rag, capable of being disposed of after use while avoiding additional burdens being placed upon landfills and other disposal sites. There is also a need to provide a disposable cleaning article, such as a mop head or a rag, which, after use, can be solubilized and substantially sterilized in a single operation.